There are countless methods and styles of cooking food. From steaming, to microwaving, baking to frying, sautéing to grilling. Each method produces unique results has its own advantages and disadvantages. There are countless forms of devices used to facilitate cooking in these many disparate fashions. From pots and pans to fryers and ovens. Each device produces unique results has its own advantages, as well as disadvantages.
In recent years the popularity and interest in cooking bacon has dramatically increased. Historically bacon has been cooked in sliced form in a pan placed over a heat source such as a stove. While this conventional method is certainly effective, it has its disadvantages. Namely, cooking slab bacon in a pan on a stove is incredibly messy as bacon fat tends to splatter all over the area surrounding the stove. This causes a tremendous amount of post-cooking clean-up work. Another problem with cooking bacon in this manner is that the resulting cooked bacon is often curled, wrinkled or irregularly shaped, as opposed to being flat and straight. This irregularity shaped cooked bacon is harder to eat or use in certain applications, such as on a sandwich.
An alternative manner of cooking sliced bacon is to bake it in a pan in the oven. Again, this method is effective at cooking sliced bacon, however this method also has its disadvantages. Namely, baking sliced bacon in an oven is messy as well. Like cooking bacon in a pan on the stove when bacon is baked it tends to splatter all over the oven. This causes a tremendous amount of post-baking clean-up work. To resolve this problem, the pan can be covered. However, when the pan is covered this makes it more-difficult to achieve crispy results, which is often desired by many bacon consumers. As such, the results of baking bacon are often sub-par. In addition, baked bacon, like pan-cooked bacon, is often curled, wrinkled or irregularly shaped, as opposed to being flat and straight.
With the advent of microwave ovens, various systems were developed for microwaving bacon in new ways. One such system is known as the BaconWave™. The BaconWave™ is a device having a tray shaped bottom having a plurality of indexed tabs that extend upward from the tray in spaced alignment with one another. Bacon slices are then placed in these spaces, held with a skewer and the device is placed in the microwave and cooked. As the device is microwaved, the spaced indexed tabs hold the bacon in spaced relation in a generally straight manner and as the bacon is cooked the fat drips off the bacon into the tray. While the BaconWave™ certainly provided a new way of cooking bacon using a microwave, the BaconWave™ has its disadvantages. Namely, when cooking bacon in the microwave using the BaconWave™ the bacon tends to splatter all over the microwave creating a substantial amount of post-cooking clean-up work which obviates any implied convenience the BaconWave™ provides. This is partly because the BaconWave™ is uncovered when it is placed in the microwave. However the BaconWave™ must remain uncovered otherwise the bacon will not be crispy when done cooking. Another disadvantage of the BaconWave™ is that while it does create crispy and generally flat cooked bacon, the cooked bacon tends to be dry and loses much of its flavor and therefore regardless of any convenience the BaconWave™ provides, the result is unacceptable to many bacon consumers.
Another cooking apparatus for microwaving bacon is known as the WowBacon® which is formed of a hollow container having a plurality of suspension vanes removably placed inside the container which are covered by a removable top. Slices of bacon are draped over the vanes and the top is placed on the container and the device is microwaved. Unlike the BaconWave™, the WowBacon® provides the benefit of being enclosed during cooking and therefore the WowBacon® prevents or at least reduces bacon splatter inside the microwave. While the WowBacon® provides that benefit, the WowBacon® has its own disadvantages. Namely, the bacon in the WowBacon® must be slung over the vanes causing each cooked piece of bacon to have a V-shape to it. In addition, the bacon cooked in the WowBacon® is curled, wrinkled or irregularly-shaped, as opposed to being flat and straight, thereby causing the cooked bacon to be harder to eat or use in certain applications, such as on a sandwich.
There are other systems for cooking bacon, however these systems each suffer from their own disadvantages. Therefore, for the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for an improved bacon cooking system and method of use.
Thus, it is a primary object of the invention to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that improves upon the state of the art.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that produces great tasting bacon.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that produces generally flat and straight bacon.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that produces crispy bacon.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that is easy to clean.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that does not produce a mess when used.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that can be used in a conventional oven and a microwave oven.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that can be used for a great number of purposes.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that prevents splatter when cooking.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that can be used for cooking bacon, browning hamburger and steaming vegetables.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that has a simplistic and intuitive design.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that is inexpensive to manufacture.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that is easy and intuitive to use.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that has a minimum number of parts
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that easy to assemble and disassemble.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that is dishwasher safe.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that has a small footprint that fits in most ovens.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that is safe to use.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that has a long useful life.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that is durable.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that can be used in countless applications.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bacon cooking system and method of use that can be used with any form of bacon, from thick cut to thin cut.
These and other objects, features, or advantages of the invention will become apparent from the specification and claims.